Your Guide: Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta

Sails unfurled and ballooned and the wind-powered vessels cut a swath outside Marblehead Harbor Thursday on the first day of the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta.

Regatta sailing continues Friday, Saturday and Sunday, hosted by the Corinthian Yacht Club.

The regatta will see the launching of between 150 and 200 boats, maneuvered by some 1,000 sailors.

Captains and crews are competing for berths in the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Championships.

They will be held in the British Virgin Islands.

The Marblehead races have been a summer staple since 1889.

They are part of Marblehead Race Week, which featured smaller vessels and younger racers at the junior races Monday through Wednesday.

Boaters and, perhaps, bathers and beachcombers, will be treated to a spectacle this weekend.

The races start each day at 11 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Practiced hands and their skippers will set vessels over courses, the sailboats leaning and bobbing as they seek the lead.

Here are the classes of boats and the dates they are competing:

Friday – Sunday

• J /105
• Etchells
• Town Class
• Viper 640
• Sonar
• J/24
• J/70
• Megabyte

Saturday - Sunday

• Vanguard 15